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>> The Evers administration
overnight Thursday made

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full November food share
payments to 700,000 people

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in Wisconsin who rely on
the assistance that after a

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federal judge late this
week ordered the Trump

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administration to fully
fund Snap, saying people

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have gone without for too
long. Trump Friday appealed

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that decision, but a stay
was not granted. People's

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accounts in Wisconsin have
been restored, at least for

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this month. Now the chaos
in the Snap program and

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overall higher costs have
drawn more and more people

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to seek help from food
pantries, including many

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first time visitors. Over
four days this week at one

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of Wisconsin's busiest, the
River Food Pantry in Dane

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County, they served nearly
5000 individuals. As its

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executive director, Rhonda
Adams told me, long lines

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and empty pockets tell the
story. What is it been like

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here in terms of numbers
and demand on on people's

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part for help with food?
>> I can't keep up with it,

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to be honest. It's hard to
keep up with them because

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they're changing every day.
But we just know that there

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is an increase in what
we've been seeing over the

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last several months. We're
on track to serve over

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20,000 unique individuals
this year, and that's up

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from last year, about
18,700. So a lot of people

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are coming to us. There's a
lot of need.

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>> We've been executive
director for five years.

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How does this period of
time right now compare to

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prior years?
>> There's no comparison.

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This is this is and I don't
even want to say crazy, but

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it is crazy how much need
there is right now. So as I

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was looking at numbers
again just from last week,

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serving close to 5000
people in a week. We never

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thought we'd be able to do
that and never thought we'd

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need to do that. But we're
here for the people that

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need us through very
dedicated volunteers and a

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very devoted staff.
>> Do you ever have

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concerns that this amount
of donations won't come in,

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won't be able to serve the
people that need it?

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>> To be honest, yes, they
did have that concern. But

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I will tell you that our
community has been amazing.

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They have heard our pleas.
They've heard other food

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pantries pleas that please
us money, please give food.

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We need help. We need
volunteers. And the

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community has responded.
>> Even if by court order.

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The SNAP funding is
reinstated. Do you expect

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it to be immediate where
people will have that on

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their EBT cards?
>> I don't I don't expect

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that to be immediate. I
expect that to be weeks.

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And also, I think people
are still going to be

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apprehensive about is that
is it really true? Plus, I

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think people have found us
and now have also found

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that we're welcoming, that
we're we're here for them.

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And so we I believe we'll
continue to see uptick in

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numbers here. And plus
we're coming into the

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holidays, which is always a
busy time for us.

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>> How confusing and
frightening is it for your

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customers, your clients,
the people you serve to

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kind of be in the midst of
what's happening in

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>> It's very confusing. I
was I was talking to some

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of the clients last week
and they said, like, we're

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scrambling, but we don't we
don't know which what to

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listen to, which side to
listen to. And like, we're

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in the middle and and who
is also who's also in the

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middle are children. And
that's, that's

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heartbreaking that children
are going hungry and maybe

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going hungry because of the
snap benefits being cut.

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>> What kind of provisions
do you have here to help

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the community?
>> Yep. So the river has

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eight different programs
and it's really a way to

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give different access to to
different people. And how

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can they how can they get
food. So we do have a

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mobile meal program where
we go out into 24 different

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neighborhoods throughout
delivering a meal. We also

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have our most busiest and
popular program, which is

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curbside. And that's really
what the volunteers here

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are, are preparing to put
together bags for our

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clients that are coming
curbside with a variety of

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things. What we're seeing
here is produce the most

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requested item milk and
eggs and dairy products and

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shelf stable products, all
those kind of things. Meat.

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You mentioned also the meal.
So this week we are serving

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chicken noodle soup, which
has been really popular.

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But also we do have a meal
here every week. So again

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we're serving four days a
week and people can come to

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us for the meal. And it
just takes a burden off of

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people having to prepare
one more meal. They can

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have one already prepared
for them and their families.

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>> Do you see a lot of
first time visitors?

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>> Another heartbreaking
thing. Yes, we do see a lot

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of first time. Last week
was 81. Households had

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never been here before.
Came for the very first

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time and to see the looks
on their face, they're

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frightened. They don't know
what to do or what to

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expect. And, you know, for
many of them, they're

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feeling shame and they're
making a telling us, you

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know, sorry that I'm here
and apologizing for being

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here. We greet them with a
smile. You saw Kevin here

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as our registration,
registering clients and

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treating them with a smile
and with telling them, it's

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okay, we're here. We're
going to help you.

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>> What can people who want
to help you, this pantry or

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other pantries, food banks,
what can they do?

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>> Yeah. And it's really
for all food pantries

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across the country because
we're we're all in this

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work together and we're all
wanting to to make a

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difference in people's
lives with, you know, just

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a basic need of food. So
money is, is, is needed.

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And that's what I'm hearing
from other food pantries,

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too. Money is the number
one request, right, that we

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can again make that dollar
stretch a little bit

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farther. We're happy that
we're here and that people

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are finding us and they're
trusting us, right, with a

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basic need that they need.
Right. It's food, but it is

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it's sad. It's
heartbreaking that people